Dr. James Reed takes over St. Peter's Health Partners as president, CEO on its first anniversary VIDEO

TROY -- Dr. James Reed will be maintaining his office along Burdette Avenue in Troy, despite having taken over the region's largest health system Monday. The former president of Northeast Health was named president and chief executive officer of St. Peter's Health Partners. In a statement, Reed said he was "honored" to have been chosen for the position.

The appointment comes on the first anniversary of the formation of St. Peter's Health Care Partners, created by the merger of St. Peter's Health Care Services, Northeast Health and Seton Health. The new system includes 11,700 employees at 125 locations in seven counties, and has an annual budget of nearly $1.1 billion. Combined, the system offers a wide variety of care, from in-patient services to elder-care, at institutions including Albany Memorial and St. Peter's hospitals in Albany; Samaritan and St. Mary's hospitals in Troy; the Sunnyview Rehabilitation Center, The Eddy system and The Community Hospice.

While taking over the region's largest private-sector employer, Reed is also stepping into a newly created set of responsibilities. His appointment follows the retirement of Steven P. Boyle, the previous president of St. Peter's Health Partners, who was also president and CEO of St. Peter's Hospital. Reed will be taking on Boyle's responsibilities as president of SPHP, but he will also be chief executive officer for the nascent organization, the first time the two positions will have been consolidated in a single personage.

Ann Errichetti filled the role vacated by Boyle early last month, who was named chief executive officer of St. Peter's Hospital, and vice-president of Acute-Care-Albany.

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Reed, as president of Northeast Health, was heavily involved in the merger, and describes his new position as to be chosen for the position as "making sure we have the right people and the right team, and the 'right seats on the bus,' as Jim Collins said." The plan to combine the three health systems had been in the works for four years prior to the official merger, during which time the boards had discussed how SPHP would be organized at a managerial level, including the possibility of consolidating CEO and presidential responsibilities.

In the year since the merger, the new organization has branded itself through an extensive advertising campaign, and moved quickly to consolidate services that would benefit the greatest. In Troy, these have included maternity services, which were previously offered at Samaritan and Seton Health, but have now moved to the Burdette Care Center. A more encompassing consolidation has been the visiting nurse, formerly present at each of the merging organizations, but are now combined under the Eddy Visiting Nurse Association name.

According to Reed, such consolidations afford SPHP the opportunity for better coordination, to "tighten up" the management team and will benefit from the new opportunity to replicate efficient and effective processes.

"We can now look across the entire system and ask, 'Who is doing it the best way?' and then we can take that process and spread it across our entire organization," said Reed.

Moving forward, Reed said the strategic plan is comprised of three goals: Creating a system so that information and patients can be more effectively transferred between constituent institutions, higher quality and reducing healthcare costs.

Reed has a background in medicine and business. After attending graduate school for business, he held a series of finance positions at the International Paper Company, leading to appointment as director of Corporate Finance. After graduating from the Cornell University Medical College, Reed completed his residency training in Family Practice, and joined a private group family practice in Albany, New York as a partner. He practiced for nine years before he was appointed chief medical officer of Northeast Health in 1999, where he has been the president and CEO since 2001. As part of his new day-to-day routine, Reed will be traveling between the various hospitals and organizations he now oversees.